Tag Archives: Palestine

Representatives of Japanese for Peace and ICAN held a low-key vigil on the steps of the old GPO in Bourke Street, displaying banners and handing out flyers for the afternoon’s Peace Concert at the State Library and postcards relating to the Future Fund’s investments in the nuclear weapons industry (see The Age 26 May 2011; there is an article on the same subject in the current issue of Friends of the Earth’s Chain Reaction). They shared the venue with members of Women in Black also holding a vigil calling for peace in Palestine:

The main event of the day was of course the concert, and the vigil was a very small affair, but a good many passers-by took the offered leaflets or at least had their attention caught by the banners and the traditional Japanese cranes:

Saturday 5 June saw continuing worldwide protests over Israel’s attack on an aid convoy heading for Gaza (see e.g., The Age). There were protests in Sydney and Melbourne, reported on Melbourne Indymedia, where these photos were taken:

The protest started with a rally at the State Library

Another view of the crowd at the Library

One of many banners

On the march to Parliament House:

The Greens in the march with their distinctive heart-shaped and triangular placards

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign called an emergency action in response to Israel’s lethal attack on peace activists on board a flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza. In spite of the extraordinarily short notice – scarcely 24 hours – as many as 1500 people assembled in the Bourke Street Mall to voice their anger and condemnation of Israel’s action. There was a long list of speakers, including Greens Senate candidate Adam Bandt and union leaders, representatives of the Turkish and other communities, as well as a strong anti-Zionist Jewish voice towards the end, when the protest had moved through the streets to the State Library. There is more about the rally on Melbourne Indymedia and video on YouTube:

Several hundred members of the Palestinian community along with supporters from all walks of life rallied at the State Library on Friday to mark the 61st anniversary of some see as the birth of the state of Israel, but others as the catastrophe that overtook the people of Palestine on that day. Also remembered was the ongoing struggle of Indigenous people in Australia, and the sufferings of Tamils in their homeland.

The rally began with an acknowledgment of Aboriginal ownership of the land, and a minute’s silence for the dead. There were several speakers, and a group of Palestinian dancers. Then a march to Federation Square, to join a vigil in protest at the current killings in Sri Lanka.

(Sondos Ismael was on board the SIEVX, which sank on 19 October 2001 on route from Indonesia to Christmas Island, with the loss of 353 lives. She survived, and was eventually reunited with her husband in Australia, but her three young daughter drowned. See http://www.tonykevin.com.au/TheTragedy.html)

Some of the speakers:

Hisham Mustafa of the Islamic Council of Victoria

The leaflet Hisham is waving is a key part of the campaign to boycott transport company Connex, which currently runs Melbourne’s train network and is tendering for a renewal of the contract. It has also won a contract for a light rail system connecting Jewish settlements on the West Bank – see the link to Dump Connex.

Pratheepan Balasubramanian

As already mentioned, the rally ended with a march to Federation Square, where it merged with a vigil held by the Tamil community. Pratheepan Balasubramanian spoke at the rally, tracing the history of the present conflict back to the end of British colonial rule and the creation of Sri Lanka (Ceylon) in 1948, the same year as the ‘birth’ of Israel.

Alison Thorne of ISJA (see above)

Here is the text of what she said:

On behalf of the Indigenous Social Justice Association — Melbourne, greetings! On the occasion of the 61st anniversary Al Nakba we stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people. We support this struggle as we support the Tamils, Maori, West Papuans and indeed all oppressed nations battling occupation, theft of land, suppression of culture and genocidal practices.

It is vital that we acknowledge that we too are standing on occupied land and that Aboriginal Australians experienced their own catastrophe in 1788.

Just as anti-Zionist Jews in Israel must take action to stop the atrocities of the Israeli State, every one of us has a responsibility to make the connections and integrate the struggle to win justice for Indigenous Australians into every aspect of our organising.

The apartheid state of Israel is not only a catastrophe for the Palestinian people, it is also a death trap for Jewish people who want to live in peace. Because there can be no peace without justice. And there can be no justice when Palestinian refugees have no right of return, live in crowded refugee camps and have their miserable fragments of territory divided by an apartheid wall, Zionist settlements and roads and restrictive checkpoints.

And there can be no peace in this country built on the theft of Aboriginal land when Aboriginal people continue to die in custody, have their incomes quarantined, see their languages disappearing, die too young and live in overcrowded and poorly maintained homes.

But what we do really does make a difference. When we build international multi-racial coalitions, draw the links and challenge land theft and occupation we are a force to be reckoned with. And our message must be clear — without real justice, there can be no damn peace!

Before the march set off, a group of Palestinian dancers took the ‘stage’:

Last year Palm Sunday fell on 16 March, and the temperature was over 40 degrees; this year the mercury struggled in the high teens, and prayers for rain were perhaps untimely answered. However, there were still many sufficiently committed to the cause of peace and the related issue of abolishing nuclear weapons to make the effort, and the shopping crowds in Elizabeth Street and the Bourke Street Mall were obviously impressed by the message.
This year the rally proper was preceded by an ecumenical service outside the State Library, focussing on the present-day relevance of the original Palm Sunday – the event was sponsored by the Victorian Council of Churches and the Campaign for International Cooperation and Disarmament:

The ecumenical service before the rally and march

During the service

A short break between the service and the rally was the cue for hiphop artists the Ringwood Boiz:

The march ended in the Bourke Street Mall, where Jessica read through a list of current conflicts where people are dying, and members of the rally successively lay down in a symbolic “die-in” as each war was called: